1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of computerized devices and wireless networking. More particularly, in one exemplary aspect, the present invention is directed to optimizing wireless network interfaces based on platform configuration.
2. Description of Related Technology
The growing market for so-called “convergence products” has led to a revolution in the way consumers view computerized devices. These next generation computerized devices focus on offering consumers a substantially unified solution for a variety of services to which consumers have become accustomed. Common examples of such convergence products include, but are not limited to laptop computers, smartphones, and tablet computers such as the exemplary Macbook™, Macbook Pro™, Macbook Air™, iPhone™, and iPad™ manufactured by the Assignee hereof. Convergence products must generally support a variety of wireless protocols and other functions. For instance, a convergence smartphone such as the iPhone has the capability of, among other things, sending and receiving mails over a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) such as e.g., the IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n standards, making and receiving voice/data calls using a cellular network (e.g., Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), LTE or LTE-A, etc.) and operating wireless peripheral equipment (such as wireless headsets, keyboards, etc.) using a personal area network (PAN) (e.g., Bluetooth™ protocol (BT), etc.).
Within this context, aggressive form factor designs and new design paradigms have greatly altered the landscape of consumer electronics. Consumers demand design qualities that transcend functionality; certain qualities such as reduced size, aesthetic appeal, portability, shared resources (e.g., multi-purposed components), and battery life have taken precedence over traditional design criteria. For example, metallic construction is highly desired; however, those of ordinary skill will recognize that metallic materials can shield and/or interfere with radio reception. Similarly, compressing multiple radio transceivers within aggressively compact form factors contributes significantly to overall platform noise.
As devices have evolved according to customer preferences, certain design tradeoffs have adversely affected performance. Lower performance can potentially result in a poor user experience with the device. For example, certain aggressive form factors implement both BT and WLAN transceivers/antennae within very close physical proximity to one another. Unfortunately, BT and WLAN share the same ISM (Industrial Scientific Medical) radio band; i.e., 2.4-2.48 GHz frequency range. Consequently, BT and WLAN technologies will often interfere with each other when operating simultaneously, which causes noticeable problems in the user interface (e.g., BT audio stutter and drop-outs, slow WLAN transfer speeds, poor BT mouse tracking, keyboard and touchpad performance, or “jerkiness”, etc.).
Current and future consumer electronics device manufacturers must re-evaluate existing design assumptions. Future designs will need to establish new schemes for handling aggressive form factor designs and new design paradigms. In particular, new constraints (such as size and layout, manufacturing and design cost, product schedules, etc.) must be balanced against demands for high performance processors, memories, interfaces, system buses, display elements, and high rate clocking, etc. Realistically, future devices will have to tolerate higher platform noise (e.g., both static and dynamic noise floors (NF)) while still delivering acceptable performance and user experience.
One such design/operational area that may be considered is wireless network operation. Wireless adaptation schemes are generally based on the assumption that the overall network capability is primarily limited by the reception quality of the wireless channel. Generally, it is assumed that low error rates are indicative of low-noise radio environments. Higher order modulation schemes can offer very high data rates, but require low noise radio environments. Consequently, higher order modulation schemes are only enabled within low noise environments. In fact, existing solutions automatically revert to lower order modulation schemes when error rates increase (the increasing error rate is assumed to be a result of radio channel deterioration due to e.g., noise). Unfortunately, since the main contributory cause of error rates in aggressive form factor designs may be unrelated to the actual radio channel, blindly reducing the modulation scheme is a suboptimal solution.
Accordingly, improved solutions are needed for optimizing wireless network operation based on device considerations, in addition to (or in place of) wireless channel conditions.